Heavy rains have flooded tent encampments of displaced Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip, including distress to communities already devastated by 13 months of warfare, as Israeli forces stepped up assaults within the enclave.
Downpours in a single day inundated tents and in some locations washed away the plastic and fabric shelters utilized by displaced individuals within the enclave, most of whom have been uprooted a number of occasions through the warfare between Israel and Hamas.
Some positioned water buckets on the bottom to guard mats from leaks and dug trenches to empty water away from their tents.
“We left the north and survived the bombings. We left after the siege. However now the rain and chilly are killing us. I’ve been sick for 3 days,” Ahmad, a displaced resident of Jabalia, northern Gaza, instructed Al Jazeera in a tent camp in Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza Metropolis.
“We had been affected by the rain. Our youngsters had been soaked. Our garments obtained moist and we’ve nothing to guard ourselves, simply the tent,” mentioned Um Mohammad Marouf, a displaced Beit Lahiya resident.
Many tents used within the early levels of Israel’s warfare in Gaza have now worn out and now not supply safety. The worth of latest tents and plastic sheeting has additionally shot up past the technique of displaced households.
On Monday, Gaza’s Authorities Media Workplace mentioned in an announcement that about 10,000 tents had been both washed away or broken because of the storm, interesting for worldwide assist to offer displaced households with tents to protect them in opposition to the rain and chilly.
“Based on authorities area evaluation groups, 81 % of the displaced individuals’ tents are now not usable. Out of 135,000 tents, 110,000 are fully worn out and urgently want substitute,” it mentioned.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud mentioned many tent websites are close to the coast and should not designed to resist “these horrific situations”, particularly as colder climate approaches.
“The rising tide has broken many of those tents, leaving individuals with little hope and no dry garments to guard themselves,” he mentioned.
The United Nations Reduction and Works Company for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned that half 1,000,000 individuals throughout the besieged enclave are in danger in areas hit by flooding.
“The scenario will solely worsen with each drop of rain, each bomb, each strike,” the company mentioned on X.
In the meantime on Monday, Israeli assaults intensified throughout the enclave.
In Rafah within the southern Gaza Strip, an Israeli air assault killed at the least 4 individuals, medics mentioned, whereas tanks deepened their incursions in Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya, and Jabalia – the biggest of the enclave’s eight historic refugee camps.
Medics mentioned seven Palestinian individuals had been additionally killed by two Israeli air assaults in Jabalia.
Residents in Gaza mentioned Israeli planes additionally dropped new leaflets on Beit Lahiya ordering remaining residents to go away the northern metropolis for the south, saying the world would come beneath assault and offering them with a map.
Palestinian individuals say Israel seems decided to depopulate the world completely to create a buffer zone alongside the northern fringe of Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied this accusation.
Israel’s warfare in Gaza has killed at the least 44,235 Palestinians and wounded 104,638 since October 7, 2023.
An estimated 1,139 individuals had been killed in Israel through the Hamas-led assaults that day and greater than 200 had been taken captive.
